Place Called Home
by Rufwardo
Summary: Angels were made in pairs. This is a story of one angel and her journey to get back to the home she lost in Lucifer's rebellion and the angel she left behind. Will eventually reach the SPN timeline
1. Chapter 1

Place Called Home

Disclaimer: I don't own them, never will. I don't make money from this. Blah, blah, blah.

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Angels were made in pairs.

For some it was a battle bond. They were brothers in arms. Fighting at each other's side, working God's will. Others were more like siblings, disagreeing at times but Heaven help the outsider who tried to take a side.

Then there was Castiel. He and his pair were like lovers, if such a bond could be termed so crudely. Each the perfect reflection of the other, they were inseparable. For time before time they resided in Heaven, perfectly at peace in no company but their own.

Then Lucifer lead his uprising, seeking to raise himself above the Lord. The war began and Michael lead the armies of Heaven against Lucifer and his angels. A full third of the Host was turned to Lucifer's cause and the battle raged across the heavens. In the confusion Castiel was separated from his mate for the first time.

Finally the rebellious angel and his army were beaten. Michael cast Lucifer into the Pit and slammed shut the gates of Heaven. It was then that Castiel discovered his mate was no longer at his side. He searched all of Heaven, calling her name. Despite his efforts she was nowhere to be found. In the final moments, the chaos of battle had pushed her beyond the Gates. She was trapped on the Earth, with the humans and the remnants of Lucifer's army, cut off from Heaven. Cut off from him.

Her name was Keriel and this is her story.


	2. Chapter 2

In the early days of her time on Earth, Keriel wandered. Never settling in one place, she observed her Father's creation with the eyes of a human woman who granted her entry. Though fascinated with the world she never forgot her home, or the Angel she left behind. For days at a time she stood staring at the sky, no thought in her head other than that she must return. Every time she tried however, she found the way barred. The Gates of Heaven eternally closed to her. It was then that she wept.

During her travels, she came across a group of human men who had the art of writing. Knowing this was not part of her Father's plan, she sought to discover who had tainted them. She observed the settlement for many days, hoping to catch a glimpse of the angelic being who had taught men this, for surely it must be one of the Grigori. None but one of the Watchers who fell from Heaven could have placed these ideas in the minds of men, created to be pure in their faith.

Time passed and Keriel began to grow weary of the task she had set herself. She was no longer granted access to Heaven, was it her place to still do it's work? Then, in the seventh week of her vigil, she saw a man enter the settlement. He was of massive height and proud, with a glow to him she understood to mean he was of her kin. He called the men of the land to him and they came. Flocking to him like moths to a flame. The fallen Watcher taught the men more of writing, teaching them to craft inks. Seeing this, Keriel found herself filled with the Holy Fire that had carried her through the battle in Heaven. Drawing forth her blade, Keriel sprang from her place of hiding and shot toward the group of men. Naming him Penemue she called out to the Grigori. The fading power of her Grace filled her voice and the men of the settlement fled to their homes in terror, fearing that the wrath of the Lord had come upon them.

Keriel felt neither fear nor pain during her battle with the Watcher. Struggling back and forth they traded blows for almost an hour before, weakened, Penemue fled from her wrath. Sinking to the ground she wept exhausted tears before succumbing to the need of her host body for sleep. There she remained, in the circle of earth scarred by her battle, for nearly a day. On waking she found the settlement abandoned. On the horizon stood a pillar of smoke, rising like a beacon. Keriel wearily set out to discover it's source.

After nearly a day of travel she reach the origin of the smoke. A scorched circle of earth, cloaked in a layer of ash. The Angels of Vengeance had descended to the Earth and done what she, in her weakened state could not. This circle of earth was the last testament to the once mighty Watcher Penemue. Far in the distance she heard a rumble and the ground shook beneath her feet. Raising herself from the human form she had worn for many years, Keriel looked out and saw a great flood encompass the land she had walked. A cleansing of the wickedness sown in the heart of Man by the brothers of Penemue.

Thus ended the first chapter of her new life amongst the peoples of Earth.


	3. Chapter 3

When Keriel saw Castiel again, a child had just been saved from a massacre in the town of Bethlehem. Though she had sensed that something world changing was about to happen, she hadn't known it to be true until she caught that glimpse of him. Standing at the edge of a crowd of mourners, Keriel sensed movement in the corner of her vision. Turning she saw nothing but a glimpse of light on a stream, heard nothing but wind rustling through grass. Then she saw it, a light, hovering in the air barely a hundred feet away. Castiel. The light faded away but she felt a peace that had been lost to her all those years ago, in the terrible war. The Angels were walking the world again, unseen as yet, but surely the time would soon come when they would walk as she did. When they would take vessels and speak to the people as men. A time of change was come upon the world and her Angel would be here to see it pass.

Knowing of the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, Keriel sought to find the child who would save his people. Born under the Law of God he would surely be watched over by the Hosts of Heaven. She has no thought of the child or his destiny, only that through him she might finally see her beloved Castiel again. With this hope driving her she calls on the last, tattered remnants of her Grace and sets out to find the family so touched by God.

After months of searching Keriel came to the house of Joseph. There she sensed the holy presence of men who had been touched by Angels of the Lord. Knowing that she had found the child Keriel settled down to wait. Taking a vessel from amongst the women of the town, Keriel began her second vigil, watching over the child as best she could. Always on the look out for a sign that Angels were near, that the time for them to walk amongst the people of Earth had come.

Years passed, the child grew to be a man and Keriel began to despair that she would ever again lay eyes upon the light of her Angel. Still this hope was all she had left. Cut off from the power of Heaven, her Grace was in shreds, she barely had the strength to move from vessel to vessel. Her angelic blade had long ago vanished back into the nothingness from which she had formed it. All she could do was watch and hope. Praying seemed foolish, after all if God was listening he would have let her return home centuries ago.

In the twenty ninth year of her silent wait, Jesus of Nazareth was baptised in the waters of Jordan. Keriel wept openly as she witnessed the power of her Father call out to the man. Leading him from the river and into the desert. Keriel tried to follow him, calling out to her Father in a silent scream. Hoping for recognition, for release from the banishment she had endured for so long. She received no answer and her path into the desert was blocked by an unseen hand. For forty days she sat at the edge of the desert, on the final day she sensed the presence of Angels. Castiel was not among them. Again Keriel shed a tear for her lost love and the home she could never return to.

For many years Keriel trailed the man she had watched as a child. Finally seeing the Holy Light within him she listened carefully to his teachings. Trailing him and the disciples he had chosen, she was still unable to discern her Father's purpose in marking this child as special. The Lord had many prophets and this one seemed, as yet, no different. What had warranted him the protection of so many of the Host, what made him special? Not until she witnessed his arrest, death and eventual re-birth did she finally see God's purpose. She smiled with the knowledge that these people, whom she had walked with for so many years, could find peace in Heaven. It was then that she made her choice. She would walk as one of them. Truly and finally. On the day the Lamb of God rose up from the Earth, Keriel chose to Fall.

Thus ended the second chapter of her life amongst the peoples of Earth.


	4. Chapter 4

Ripping out her Grace, Keriel sank into a state of unknowing. She did not know how long she remained that way. Keriel knew only that when she awoke the world had changed. Gone were the dusty trails and rough carts of the time before. Instead there were hard packed, black roads that shimmered in the heat of an early summer morning. The landscape was also changed. From the wide expanses of rural Israel, she found herself now surrounded by mountains covered in trees. Unsure of herself and what she should do but determined to make her final experience a worthwhile one, Keriel chose a direction and set off in search of a human life.

She found it in the small town of Severance, Colorado. She had followed the road for miles until she came to a town. From there Keriel had hitched her way around the new country she found herself in. Eventually settling in Severance simply because she liked the name. Finding a job hadn't been too hard. Even with no real past to go with the body she had awoken in, despite her lack of marketable skills, a pretty young woman in a small town could always find work in a bar. Somewhere to live had been harder, having never before had to worry about cold before Keriel's first few nights in her new town had been an uncomfortable lesson in human frailty. Eventually she found a small apartment and settled in to a routine of work, food and sleep. It was a monotonous existence but at least it was one with an end in sight. She might never again know the majesty of Heaven as seen through angelic eyes, never again witness the glory of her Angel but at least she was going home. With the promise of salvation given to all God's children by the sacrifice of the child she had watched grow into a man, Keriel knew that this was her way home. That in Falling she had finally found her way home. So she went about her dull human life, smiling and dreaming of a land where there was no rain, where snow would never cover the ground and the stars would be spread around her in an eternal blanket.

Such a life could not last though. The End of Days fell upon the world and the monsters in the darkness became bolder. Keriel heard whispers last at night, a nameless voice pushing her to action. She watched the news and read the tales, noticing as one by one the seals which held Lucifer in the Pit were broken. She worried for her adopted people and mourned her kin as she found more and more stories of mysterious black scorch marks left around corpses. Knowing them to be the sign of an Angel's death she found herself praying for the first time in millennia. Every night she prayed to a Father she wasn't sure had ever been listening that her Castiel was not among the dead. That she had not struggled through so many years only to find it was all for nothing, that she would go to a Heaven without her love.

Then the chaos of the End hit her small town. Overrun by demons, the devout amongst the residents of Severance were beset. Wishing strongly for her blade Keriel gathered together the few who remained unpossessed and tried to lead them to safety. Armed only with Holy Water and salt Keriel moved the group closer to the edge of town in movements of only two or three houses at a time. Leap-frogging in this way they reached the northern edge of the town. Then a miracle occurred. From nowhere two men appeared carrying blades of silver. One, a large black man, stood back from the ragged group of survivors who hesitantly made their way across the open road toward possible salvation. The second man was shorter, of slighter build and had intense blue eyes that watched the small group as they approached. Seemingly satisfied by what he saw the man beckoned them over calling out for them to hurry. Telling them that they would be safe.

Keriel stood rooted in shock. After all this time, Castiel was here, right here. Stood just the other side of a road from her and seemingly unaware of her true nature. She could have burst into tears from the unfairness of it all. She Fell in the hopes of seeing him again, of being able to feel the touch of his energy against her soul as she found her rest in Heaven and here he was, blind to her!

Castiel finally turned his eyes to her, his gaze seemed to look deep inside her and yet still she saw no flicker of recognition. She found she was able to move her feet and began to cross the space between them. With every fibre of her being she wished for him to realise who he was looking at. Keriel wanted nothing more than to hear him say her name. She was so focused on the Angel before her that she didn't see the demon sliding in from the ditch to her left. She felt the knife though, as it pierced her side Keriel felt a terrible pain and then numbness as she sank to her knees. Something inside Castiel must have responded to her pain because in that moment his eyes widened and Keriel saw the recognition she had longed for dawn in his eyes. Already moving, Castiel sank his blade into the chest of the demon and caught Keriel's broken human form as she slid from her knees to the floor. The large man, Uriel she dimly realised, called something to her Angel. She couldn't make out what was said but after a short exchange Uriel collected up the survivors she had so carefully ushered from the town and vanished.

Keriel felt the life begin to slip from her body as blood washed down her side in a heavy river. She was tired, so very tired. She thought how good it would be to just stay here, in the arms of her Castiel, and never move again. Castiel was speaking to her though, she pulled her focus back to reality with effort. She might never get a chance to hear him speak her name again, she had to focus. So she lay in a growing pool of blood and listened to Castiel as he told her how he'd searched for her after the battle. She listened as he told her all the things he'd done after she'd gone, how he'd pulled Dean Winchester from Hell. What Keriel heard as the last of her life faded from her body was a whisper of apology. Castiel was sorry he'd been too late to save her, sorry that she'd become caught up in the breaking of one of the Seals, sorry that she'd been one of the Faithful and thus a target.

Thus ended the final chapter of her life amongst the people of earth

Castiel watched as the brightest soul he'd ever known slipped it's human shell and began the journey to it's final rest. It was a bitter-sweet sight, that he should find Keriel after all this time only to watch her die seemed cruel. He took comfort only in the fact that she would find a place in Heaven, that when this second war was over they would be together again, as they were meant to be. Laying the body gently at the side of the road Castiel rose and went to check on his charge. The faster this war was over, the sooner he could go home.


End file.
